Best of our wild blogs: 6 Jan 09

New Year's Eve Reefwalk Sampler @ Big Sister's
on the sgbeachbum blog

Almost washed away...
a marine surprise on the Psychedelic Nature blog

Conch you stop this?
on the annotated budak blog

House Swift in the act of drinking water
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Pheasant-tailed Jacana at Sungei Buloh
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Wildfacts updates: Goatfish, blue-eyed coral crab and more
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Last lows of 2008
on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

Will a recession ease over-consumption of threatened marinelife?
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Kneel before the Shrimp Queen
on the Catalogue of Organisms blog

Read more!

Disaster looms for rich Wallacea

Tifa Asrianti, The Jakarta Post 6 Jan 09;

Long before climate change had become the hot issue it is today, British biogeographer Alfred Russel Wallace had foreseen the correlation between deforestation and environmental disaster.

In his book Island Life, published in 1881, he said deforestation in Sri Lanka and India "would adversely affect climate in those countries and lead to their eventual impoverishment due to soil erosion".

Scientists attending the International Conference on Alfred Russel Wallace and Wallacea in the South Sulawesi capital city, Makassar, agreed that the same applied to Wallacea -- a transitional region that sits between the Asian and Australian continental shelves.

The Wallacea region encompasses the islands of Nusa Tenggara (Lombok, Komodo, Flores and Sumba), Timor, Sulawesi, Halmahera and most of Maluku province.

The figures show that Wallace's prediction was on target. A comprehensive conservation assessment of Sulawesi by The Nature Conservancy revealed that as of 2004, only about 20 percent of the lowland forests were in good condition, and less than 3 percent were in excellent old growth condition.

The assessment showed that for specialized habitat types such as alluvial forests, mangroves and wetlands, generally less than 5 percent remained in good condition.

According to Conservation International, Wallacea is home to more than 10,000 plant species, of which approximately 1,500 or 15 percent are endemic.

Not only does the terrestrial area have rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, but its marine area is famous for its coral reef and wide range of fish species.

Originally, most of Wallacea was forested; today, 45 percent retains some sort of forest cover, and only 15 percent can be described as being in a pristine state, or close to it.

Of Wallacea's total area of 347,000 square kilometers, only about 20,000 square kilometers is protected. Wallacea is home to 82 threatened and six critically endangered species of terrestrial vertebrates.

Daniel Murdiyarso, senior scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) based in Bogor, West Java, said that in addition to deforestation, Sulawesi had experienced changes in its land use with parts of the forest turned into oil palm plantations.

In 1998, there were 2.24 million hectares of oil palm plantations in Sulawesi -- compared with 12,000 hectares recorded in 1985, he said.

Daniel said that the change in land use would affect the region faster than climate change would.

"Not only will change in land use create the gas emissions that increase climate change, but the change in land use will also change the ecosystem's structure and function, and later change the habitat," he said.

Daniel said the regional climate change model forecast showed that in the next 100 years, the temperature of the Wallacea region would increase by between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius and the area would become 25 percent drier.

"The temperature increase will have a significant effect on food and industrial plant productivity because the heat and drought will disrupt the growth process," he said.

A similar view came from David Smith, director of the coral reef research unit at the University of Essex, in the United Kingdom, who said his research had recorded a decrease in the growth of coral in the past few years.

"The coral decrease affected the abundance of fishes as we found that nearly 80 percent of medium-size fish caught are young ones," he said.

His research also showed there were several types of coral reef that managed to survive El Nino in 1998.

But if no immediate action is taken, he warned, the biodiversity of the region's coral reef might be damaged.

"The protection of reefs within the region could help maintain reefs globally through the conservation of genetic diversity," he said.

Scientists agreed that Wallacea was important to the world and therefore immediate conservation actions should be taken to ensure its sustainability.

Pieter Baas from Leiden University, the Netherlands, said the conservation steps should include forest conservation, sustainable logging, creation of ecotourism and the involvement of local people.

Daniel said the government should inform and improve the capacity of local people to help them deal with the impacts of climate change.

"Local people should learn safe ways to work the land. They should also learn to make added-value products and not only sell raw materials," he said.

Jatna Supriatna, executive director of Conservation International Indonesia, said the local administrations in the Wallacea regions should be able to develop ecotourism attractions.

Meanwhile, Baas said the Indonesian government should prioritize the Wallacea region for research and conservation by fast-tracking the research permit procedure.

"In other countries, the permit for research only takes about one or two weeks," he said.

Read more!

Shanghai and rising sea levels

Hot on the trail of global warming
Zhang Qian Shanghai Daily 6 Jan 09;

AS glaciers melt and sea levels rise, low-lying Shanghai is on the front lines of global warming and rising waters. Environmental scientist Kang Jiancheng tells Zhang Qian there's no end in sight.

It's chilly these days, but global warming is full speed ahead, and both temperature and sea level are rising in China and around the world. Chinese academics and environmental campaigners are trying to raise awareness.

Shanghai, a low-lying city on the East China Sea, is literally on the front lines of climate change as the sea level rises millimeter by millimeter. We'll all be gone by the time it gets really bad, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be helping to reduce emissions that lead to global warming and rising waters.

"Though the global temperature did change from time to time over the past 800,000 years, it has been increasing at an unprecedented speed in the past 100 years," says Professor Kang Jiancheng, deputy director of Urban Ecology and Environment Research Center of Shanghai Normal University.

Globally, we have experienced the warmest 100 years in the past 2,000, and the warmest 10 in the past 100, says Kang. "Sadly, there's no sign yet that it is dropping."

The temperature in China, he tells Shanghai Daily, has increased about 0.7 centigrade, compared with the average temperature from 1961 to 1991. And it is likely to increase by another 3.8-5.8 centigrade by 2100.

The average national temperature in 2006 was 9.9 degrees centigrade, while it was 10.6 degrees centigrade in 2007, says Kang. The biggest change was warmer winters in northern China.

Rising sea levels caused by melting ice sheets and warmer waters are one of the most serious challenges, since 65 percent of the world's population live near coasts and more than 80 percent of the world's big cities are coastal, like Shanghai.

The global sea level started to rise in the 19th century, after remaining constant for around 2,000 years, says professor Kang. It increased at 1.7mm per year in the 20th century, and has been rising at a rate of 3mm every year since 1993.

The sea level around China has risen 90mm in the past 30 years; the level in Shanghai has increased 120mm in the same period and is predicted to increase another 37mm in the next 10 years, he says.

"If the sea level keeps rising at an increasing rate, Shanghai - which is only 4.5m above sea level - will be vulnerable to floods, typhoons and high tides," says Kang. All delta regions face the same problem.

Shanghai has a coastline of 172 kilometers.

And the major culprit in 100 years of global warming and rising sea levels, says the professor, is carbon dioxide emissions.

"We now have agreement that human activities, including industry and daily life, are 90-95 percent responsible for the abnormal temperature increase," says Kang. "Greenhouse gas emissions, especially CO2 from burning fossil fuels (coal, oil) are the main causes."

Slowing global warming is a much better idea than simply building a big dam around Shanghai, says Kang, though he recognizes the magnitude of the problem.

CO2 concentration in the atmosphere was between 170-280 parts per million per volume (ppmv) in the past 10,000 years, but in the last 100 years it has risen to 380-384ppmv, he says.

Even if emissions ended right now, Kang says, a high level of CO2 would persist in the atmosphere for 50 to 200 years, "yet doing nothing will definitely make the situation worse."

China is tackling the problem.

The amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases emitted in China annually may now equal the amount emitted in the United States with fewer people - but the per-capita emission is only about one-fifth that of the US, according to an announcement last October by Xie Zhenhua, vice president of the National Development and Reform Commission.

China decreased its GDP energy consumption by 1.79 percent in 2006 and 3.66 percent in 2007.

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Dried seafood wholesalers in Singapore: business has been poor

Sok Hwee/ Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 5 Jan 09;

SINGAPORE: The Lunar New Year is about a month away but wholesalers dealing in dried seafood do not have much to cheer about. They said business has been poor for the past half a year.

Dried seafood prices have been sliding. Compared to half a year ago, the price of canned abalone has dropped by five per cent. A can now costs between S$30 and S$50.

Dried scallops, mostly imported from Japan and China, are 15 to 25 per cent cheaper. Despite the strong yen, prices have dropped to S$105 to S$175 per kilogramme.

Prices of sharks' fins have also dropped by five per cent, costing S$300 to S$1,000 per kilo.

Prices of sea cucumbers have been volatile for the past few years but recently, prices have stabilised to between S$200 and S$400 per kilogramme.

Importers said that even though prices have dropped, consumers are still not buying.

Apart from the economic uncertainty, the merchants have another concern. They may have to move out of the centre at Victoria Street as their lease ends next September.

But the association said that no matter what happens, it plans to keep all importers together. - CNA/vm

Read more!

Projects melt, Jurong Island feels the heat

Investments put on hold as demand starts drying up
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 6 Jan 09;

(SINGAPORE) As major investors postpone their mega projects on Jurong Island, the knock-on effect is making matters worse.

Generating companies like Sembcorp Utilities and Tuas Power have responded by holding back their own multi-billion-dollar cogeneration investments that would have used innovative fuels to supply power and steam to the industry there.

Sources say Tuas Power (TP), which is owned by China Huaneng group, has delayed plans for a S$2 billion clean coal/biomass cogeneration plant by 6-12 months as potential customers like Germany's Lanxess put off new projects for up to a year.

Lanxess's planned S$828 million plant to produce synthetic rubber for tyre inner-tubes and liners was aimed at the Chinese market, which is now in decline, while Jurong Aromatics Corporation has delayed its US$2.4 billion petrochemical investment due to financing hiccups.

'There is uncertainty about new demand for utilities on Jurong Island, so we have to proceed with caution,' a TP source said. 'There may be a bit more clarity in the next six months or so. But right now it's a chicken-and-egg situation.'

TP, which announced its new cogeneration plant on Jurong Island last September, has been negotiating with contractors but has not awarded any tenders.

The planned plant will be fired by coal, which is cheaper than piped natural gas from Malaysia and Indonesia or liquefied natural gas (LNG); so TP's postponement is not due to fuel prices. 'It's more of a demand factor,' the source said.

BT understands also that Sembcorp is holding back on its plan to build a second cogeneration plant on Jurong Island. 'We have to temper our plans because our approach is to build in tandem with customer demand,' a source said.

Sembcorp said in April last year that it planned an innovative cogeneration plant on Jurong Island using innovative alternative refuse-derived fuel and heavier fuel oil. Its current 815 megawatt plant there is 100 per cent gas-fired.

PowerSeraya, which was sold recently to Malaysia's YTL Corp, has started building an S$800 million 1,500 megawatt (MW) cogeneration plant on the island to produce electricity, steam and cooling water for industry there. This remains on schedule for completion late this year or early next year, a spokeswoman confirmed.

But amid the economic downturn, there has been no update on Power- Seraya's plan to build a second desalination plant and a booster plant to extend the reach of its cogeneration units to petrochemical plants farther away on the island.

BT reported yesterday that Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC) is also deferring its 'green' gasoline project and a planned 60-70 MW cogeneration plant because of the downturn.

The one bright spot is that construction of two new giant petrochemical crackers - by Shell for US$3 billion and ExxonMobil for US$5 billion-plus - remains on track. Completion is expected by late 2009/early 2010 and early 2011 respectively.

But this will not mean new business for utility companies. ExxonMobil is building a 220 MW cogeneration plant - its second after an earlier 150 MW unit - to meet all of its in-house needs. Likewise, Shell has sufficient in-house cogeneration capacity to meet its needs.

Read more!

Beibu Bay a good eco-city prospect for Singapore-China tie-up

Gu Xiaosong & Li Mingjiang, Straits Times 6 Jan 09;

HAVING successfully built the Suzhou Industrial Park in east China, Singapore decided in late 2007 to make another major investment in China, this time in the north.

The Tianjin eco-city, which will eventually cover more than 30 sq km, is a milestone project. Initiated by the Chinese and Singapore governments, the joint effort aims to turn marshy tracts of non-arable land into a model town with a green natural environment and a resource-efficient lifestyle. The city is expected to be completed in about 10 years.

When it is, Singapore will have brought to fruition two major projects in China, one in the east and the other in the north. Now seems an opportune moment for the Republic to think about how it can involve itself further in China. Another Singapore-China eco-city in the Beibu Bay area is an option worth considering.

Beibu Bay is part of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, bordered by Vietnam in the south-west and the Gulf of Tonkin in the south. In January last year, the central Chinese government officially approved the Development Scheme of the Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Area. Comprising four cities, the zone will take up 42,500 sq km of land - about one-fourth of the region - with a population of about 12.5 million people

The Chinese government aims to make the zone the country's next engine of growth in its coastal regions, the first three being the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas, and the Bohai Sea Rim in the north. The policy paper on the zone's development explicitly pointed out that the Beibu Gulf area, strategically located as it is between China and South-east Asia, could boost economic ties with Asean countries. This suggests that Beijing sees the zone as a means of further integrating the Chinese and Asean economies.

Environmental protection is high on the agenda in the development as the Beibu Bay is one of the few areas along China's extensive coast that have not been badly polluted. Any investment from abroad that would help preserve its environment would be welcomed by the Chinese government.

The local Guangxi government is also aware that environmental protection and the efficient use of resources, especially of energy, are vital to sustainable development. In recent years, the Beibu Bay area has accelerated its pace of industrialisation and urbanisation, creating a need for skills and technology that can ensure high eco-standards. As a garden city, Singapore has rich and valuable experience in maintaining high ecological standards in urban areas.

But what can the economic zone offer Singapore? The Republic has shown itself to be highly aware of the growing importance of the China market and the opportunities it can provide neighbouring countries. With the central government viewing the Beibu Gulf area as a growth engine to lead and facilitate the economic development of China's vast middle and western regions, the zone is likely to generate business opportunities in decades to come.

The Beibu Gulf region is only about three hours' flying time from Singapore, making it one of the closest places in China from the Republic. It has seasons but its summers and winters are relatively short, and the temperature does not usually fall below 6 deg C in winter. If an eco-city is built in the area, South-east Asians, including Singaporeans, may find it a comfortable holiday or retirement spot.

According to some estimates, it will cost less to build an eco-city in the Beibu Bay area than in North China, because the subtropical climate makes issues such as water supply less of a problem. These estimates put the price tag of an eco-city in South China at half of what it would cost in North China, though the figure may even be less than that.

When plans were being drawn up for the Beibu Gulf economic area, some Chinese and Asean experts proposed that Guangxi build a financial centre to service neighbouring provinces and support economic integration between China and nearby Asean countries. Singapore can play a significant role here, given its financial expertise. Creating such a hub will help consolidate Singapore's position as a financial centre.

The Singapore-China eco-city programme in Tianjin should be a model that is replicable. Another such joint project in the Beibu Bay area is therefore not inconceivable. If an eco-city is built there, it could become a model for other places in South China and perhaps even for other Asean countries.

Gu Xiaosong is vice-president of the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences and Li Mingjiang is an assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU.

Read more!

Celebrating the stars and nature in 2009

Astronomy, gorillas and plants among 2009's chief highlights
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 6 Jan 09;

LET us look to the stars and the earth in this international year of astronomy, gorillas and natural fibres.

Science Centre Singapore is taking the 400th anniversary of the first astronomical observation by Galileo seriously with a full year of planned activities to encourage as many people as possible to view the stars through a telescope.

2009 is marked by the International Astronomical Union, held in connection with the United Nations, which also celebrates the 40th anniversary of man's first landing on the moon.

'We hope to get 100,000 people to look through the telescope over the course of the year,' said Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, chief executive of Science Centre Singapore.

A revamped guidebook to the stars and Galilean telescopes at under $100 each will also be on sale in the early part of the year.

Star-gazers are in for a treat on the first afternoon of the lunar new year, with a rare solar eclipse visible in Singapore. Special solar filters will allow people to look at the sun safely.

Endangered species continue to be in the spotlight. After 2008's international year of the amphibian and of the coral reef, the gorilla takes centrestage this year, with the UN Environment Programme leading other world organisations in highlighting this species.

The Jane Goodall Institute in Singapore will join a network of non-governmental organisations to raise awareness about their plight and threats to their habitat. Primates drew global attention after the Spanish government voted last June to give basic human rights to great apes like the gorilla.

Plants have not been forgotten. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN launches the International Year of Natural Fibres in Rome later this month.

The drive supports agricultural industries that employ millions of people in some of the world's poorest countries and help boost their economies.

Fashion shows, conferences, TV documentaries and books are expected to be developed around the world in support of the campaign to promote the industry.

Read more!

“How to Reduce My Big Fat Carbon Footprint”: a Malaysian eco-discovery cruise

For a green Earth
The Star 6 Jan 09;

ABOUT 120 teenagers boarded a naval training ship recently for a different kind of adventure – a green one. They were onboard for an eco-discovery cruise organised by Yayasan Anak Warisan Alam (Yawa), a non-profit organisation dedicated to instilling love and care for the environment in young people.

The theme for the annual expedition was “How to Reduce My Big Fat Carbon Footprint”. Throughout the five-day sailing trip, the young participants learnt about how they leave carbon footprints (a measure of the amount of greenhouse gases we produce through our daily activities), and how to reduce the negative impact of our actions on the environment.

The participants, teachers, university students and other volunteers sailed on the naval training ship, MV Fajar Samudera, on the Straits of Malacca and Andaman Sea.

They were also treated to a day trip in Langkawi, where they took part in an “Eco-Amazing Race”. During the race, participants were given environmental challenges such as washing a vehicle with limited water and checking their go-green carbon footprint. The winners of the race were selected based on the least amount of carbon footprint emitted throughout the race and how well they were able to apply what they’ve learnt.

Another highlight of the expedition was the talk given by Abe Woo, a Universiti Sains Malaysia undergraduate who shared his experience of working on the White Coffin campaign which aims to eliminate the use of polystyrene food containers in all public universities in Malaysia.

Participants were not only educated on the harmful chemicals used to make polystyrene, but also how to avoid using these containers.

“There has never been a better way to instil awareness about the environment than by isolating youngsters on a navy ship for five days to learn how to work together, educate themselves about the environment, and to just have fun,” says participant Mahirah Ma’som, 16.

All in all, everyone involved in the eco-expedition was truly appreciative of the knowledge and awareness gained.

“I was inspired to start my own awareness campaign among my peers,” says participant Anisa Yasmin, 15.

The eco-discovery trip was organised by Yawa in partnership with Kiehl’s.

Read more!

Pink Galapagos iguana rewrites family tree

Richard Black, BBC News 5 Jan 09;

A spectacular pink type of Galapagos iguana promises to rewrite the family's evolutionary history in the islands.

Rosada was missed by Charles Darwin during his 1835 visit, but appears to indicate the earliest known divergence of land animals in the archipelago.

Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers say rosada split from other land iguanas about 5.7 million years ago.

The scientists suggest that less than 100 of the animals still exist.

Park rangers first noted the presence of a pink variety of iguana on the slopes of Volcano Wolf on the island of Isabela in 1986, but it was not until 2000 that scientists began to examine it.

Darwin's studies in the Galapagos provided key evidence underpinning the theory of evolution by natural selection, which he set out in the 1859 tome On the Origin of Species.

Animals such as finches and tortoises showed subtle changes of form between the islands, leading him to theorise that they had evolved along different paths in different environments.

His travels bypassed Volcano Wolf, and so he missed the characteristic pink iguana, which has not been found outside this single, relatively young volcano.

Separate lives

The researchers have now produced several strands of evidence suggesting that rather than being one form of the main land species Conolophus subcristatus, rosada should be considered a separate species.

Iguanas typically bob and duck when they meet each other - a behaviour thought to be important for marking territory and courtship - and rosada does so in a more complex fashion than the yellow-coloured subcristatus or the other Galapagos species, Conolophus pallidus.

It also has a different shape of crest. There is little sign of cross-breeding between pink and yellow.

And the DNA analysis shows it is far more distinct from all the other land iguanas than they are from each other.

That means the line that led to subcristatus and pallidus must have diverged from that leading to rosada long ago, with the split between subcristatus and pallidus coming much later.

The DNA work puts the date of divergence between rosada and the rest at about 5.7 million years ago, raising a new set of questions.

"At 5.7 million years ago, all of the western islands of the archipelago did not exist," said Gabriele Gentile from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, who led the new analysis.

"That's a conundrum, because it's now only inhabiting one part of Isabela that formed less than half a million years ago," he told BBC News.

Even the oldest parts of the archipelago may be less than five million years old.

The explanation may be that some volcanoes that are now under water were above it at the time when the first iguanas arrived, and this allowed some of the creatures to climb onto land and begin their separate evolution.

Earlier DNA analysis suggests that land-based iguanas split from their marine counterparts about 10 million years ago.

Small world

Whatever the history, Dr Gentile's team believes rosada's single population is so tiny as to put its survival in danger.

"Our studies would indicate that the population size is very small," he said.

"We only collected 36 in two years; and last year a large research team hiked up Wolf and only found 10, and most of those were ones that we'd marked earlier."

These numbers are low enough to make rosada a Critically Endangered species - if, indeed, it is a separate species from its yellow relatives.

Dr Gentile's team is now preparing a formal description of the animal, and will be asking the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), the body that adjudicates on such matters, to rule that it is separate and distinct.

Pink iguana discovered on Galapagos
A new species of iguana with unusual pink skin has been discovered by scientists on the island where Charles Darwin first developed his theory of evolution.
Louise Gray, The Telegraph 5 Jan 09;

The large lizard, which is at risk of extinction, has rose-coloured scales and only lives on one volcano in the Galapagos Islands.

Darwin, whose 200th birthday will be celebrated on February 12, observed both marine and land iguanas when he visited the archipelago in 1835.

The way the creatures adapted themselves to their surroundings helped to develop his revolutionary ideas about natural selection.

But he never explored the Volcan Wolf volcano on the island of Isabela and therefore did not see the pink iguana.

The creature was first spotted in 1986 by park rangers but was dismissed as a curiosity and soon forgotten.

It is only now that scientists have discovered that the "rosada" – or pink – iguana is a species in its own right after comparing its genes with other land iguanas on the Galapagos.

There were also physical differences, besides the striking pink and black-striped colouring. Pink iguanas had flat head scales, unlike other land iguanas, and a thick fatty crest on the back of the neck with small conical scales.

Action is now needed to prevent this scientifically valuable creature becoming extinct, say the researchers writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The discovery comes as seventeen previously unknown species of reptiles and amphibians were found in the threatened rainforests of eastern Tanzania.

The new species, which include chameleons, tree frogs and snakes, were discovered by scientists from the Natural Science Museum of Trento in Italy.

The discovery shows the rich biodiversity of the area which is under threat from fire, logging, collection of wood for fuel and land clearance for cultivation.

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Brazil moves to curb wildlife trafficking

Gary Duffy, BBC News 5 Jan 09;

Brazil has one of the richest varieties of animal species in the world but it is also one of the biggest markets for animal trafficking.

Studies produced for the government suggest that as many as 10m animals are being taken from their natural habitats each year, a figure that can only be an estimate, as no-one knows for sure.

The only certain number is that around 50,000 animals are rescued by the authorities each year - representing just a small percentage of those believed to be taken by traffickers.

Many animals are said to die en route to market, but again the numbers are subject to conflicting claims. No-one disputes the fact that they are often transported in horrific conditions.

Animal rights groups say the law has been weakened in recent years and that the government needs to do more.

Undercover agents

An official advertising campaign has now been launched to try to change public attitudes. It shows graphic images of dead animals, with a message to the public: this happens because you buy.

Ministers also say legislation will be improved, as well as continuing to take actions on the ground with a bigger number of inspectors.

The BBC joined an early morning briefing for police and agents of the Brazilian environment agency Ibama, as the first stage of an operation against animal trafficking was being planned.

After a call from an undercover agent the small group of agents and police officers head off to a street market in the northern city of Belem, not far from the mouth of the Amazon.

The market is typical of many across Brazil where animals are sold, sometimes legally sometimes not, and to the anger of local motorists the street is blocked off at both ends as the raid begins.

The agents go from shop to shop and stall, and eventually one man is arrested, and a small number of birds taken away to be released. Ibama officials suspect other traders selling birds illegally managed to get away.

Horrific conditions

Luiz Nelio Palheta, an analyst with Ibama, says the transportation of animals taken from the wild often involves devastating consequences.

"What we see is inadequate conditions - many animals in small containers end up dying.

"We have a level of mortality that for every animal that is saved or ends up being sold, 40 or 50 y die. The level of mortality is very high."

Even when animals are rescued the problems are significant, as the resources to care for them and ensure their proper return to the wild, if this is possible, are not always there.

Many animals are recovered thousands of kilometres from their natural habitat, and more often than not it is not a simple matter of opening a cage to let them go, though this sometimes happens.

In the heart of the Brazilian countryside, the non-governmental organisation SOS Fauna receives 2,000 to 3,000 animals per year that have been recovered from traffickers

Marcelo Rocha who runs the centre has been involved in this kind of work for 19 years.

He says animal trafficking has a significant impact on the environment.

"The worst impact is the loss of biological function that these wild animals fulfil in nature," he told the BBC.

"From the moment you take these animals out of nature, it is like taking a worker away from a big company. You leave the ecosystem unbalanced, and we humans need the ecosystem to be balanced for our own survival."

Animal trafficking offers big profits - through sales in street markets or when traffickers export rarer species to Europe and the United States.

But critics say arrests, when they happen, usually result in fines which have little impact on a crime which has devastating consequences for Brazilian wildlife.

"From 1998 until now the legislation has become weaker," Marcelo Rocha says. "No-one goes to prison for the crime of trafficking wild animals, or to put it another way, a crime against humanity is not considered a serious matter."

Cultural tolerance

Brazil is a country where for centuries there has been a cultural tolerance of buying more exotic animals to keep at home, and there is also a demand abroad.

As well as the market for pets, wild animals are sometimes sought by private collectors, while others want to obtain feathers and skins as ornaments. Sometimes animals are wanted for research purposes.

The Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc accepts that today the law is not all that it should be, but he is promising changes.

"The law is there to deal with crime but unfortunately it needs to be improved," he told the BBC.

"It treats in the same article a person who takes one bird to sing in his house alongside a person who takes a thousand birds and sends them to Germany, England and Switzerland.

"In the same ways as with drugs policy we are going to separate and treat much more rigorously the big traffickers."

Not surprisingly for a country that is home to the Amazon and the Pantanal, Brazil has one of the richest varieties of animal species in the world.

However, the government says the number of animals threatened with extinction has nearly trebled in the last two decades to more than 600, and they put part of the blame on trafficking.

With illegal trade in wild animals now only behind the level of the drugs and arms trades in terms of profits, the challenge to bring it under control remains enormous.

Read more!

Severn barrage: tidal power from shallow lagoons versus strip barrier

Severn barrage: Row breaks out over UK's biggest renewables project
A plan to build shallow lagoons fitted with turbines rather than a strip barrier across the Severn would generate equal amounts of electricity at a far lower cost, say campaigners
John Vidal, The Guardian 5 Jan 09;

Government consultants have been accused of miscalculating the costs of a project to generate vast amounts of green electricity in the Severn estuary, promoting a 10 mile-long tidal barrier strongly backed by ministers in preference to a scheme that engineers and environmentalists say is far less damaging.

The US engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff has been hired by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) to assess technologies that could meet, from the Severn estuary, up to 7% of the electricity consumption of England and Wales. Its feasibility study for the estuary, which has the second highest tidal range in the world, has been sent to ministers, who will soon announce a shortlist of potential schemes based on the assessment.

Finding a way to harness the power of the Severn's tides is important as it would represent a big step towards Britain's target of generating 35% of all electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Sources in Decc say the firm favourite is the 10-mile barrier, which would span the entire estuary and is costed at about £14bn. Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) said the barrier could generate between 5GW and 8.6GW of renewable electricity at a cost of about 3p/kWh, but that it would impede shipping and lead to permanent flooding over more than 100 miles of shoreline.

Ministers have already called the scheme "visionary" and a "trailblazer for clean, green energy".

But correspondence seen by the Guardian shows that a row erupted between PB and a company promoting a scheme that environmental groups and other engineers claim would be far less damaging, as well as cheaper and more efficient.

Tidal Electric wants to generate electricity by using tidal lagoons built on the estuary floor from rock. Up to 13 lagoons would be dotted around the Severn estuary, not across it. These would trap water at high tide and release it later through electricity-generating turbines.

Studies carried out by the engineers AS Atkins, for Tidal Electric, have suggested that the lagoons could generate twice as much power, per square mile impounded, than the barrage, and therefore generate about 25-40% more energy without damaging the shoreline.

However, the plan sent by PB to ministers says the tidal lagoon option would be eight times more expensive than the barrage scheme and would not generate as much power.

But Peter Ullman, chief executive of Tidal Electric, said: "PB has made huge miscalculations. They have submitted [to ministers] cost-numbers on power from tidal lagoons that are roughly 800% higher than all the previous studies of tidal lagoon power conducted by UK engineering giant WS Atkins and corroborated by AEA Technology, Ofgem and Rothschild Bank. They have arrived at their extraordinarily high numbers by ignoring the technology developer's design parameters and introducing their own design."

One key issue is that Tidal Electric plans to site the lagoons in shallow water, while PB assumes they would be built – at a higher cost – in deeper water.

Tidal Electric is backed by many leading environment groups, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and Friends of the Earth, as well as a vocal west country lobby, which believes a barrage would be ecologically and socially disastrous. According to the Bristol-based group Stop the Barrage Now a barrage would add to local flooding, reduce fish stocks, damage bird life and destroy the Severn bore, as well as ruin mudflats across an area of more than 77 sq miles. They say a barrage would impede shipping, adversely affecting ports such as Bristol, Sharpness, Gloucester and Cardiff, and put at risk thousands of jobs.

A PB spokesman said: "We are unable to comment on Mr Ullman's complaint, but it is important to stress that during the selection process all options have been technically assessed to a common engineering and cost baseline.

"The same technical and energy yield approach has been applied to all options and the process and outcomes have been subject to peer review. The selection process is reviewed by an independent panel of experts appointed by Decc."

In correspondence with Tidal Electric, seen by the Guardian, PB executives note that the consultation will continue: "There [will be] ample opportunity for dialogue to continue even though the public consultation documents are in the final stages of preparation. The public consultation process provides you with the opportunity to formally respond to the consultation documents, which will include our appraisal of the long-listed schemes. If the offshore lagoon concept is shortlisted, specific optimisation of proposals will be carried out in the next phase, which will require further dialogue."

A range of barrage studies were made between 1974 and 1987 at a cost of £65m, out of which a specific Severn barrage scheme was drawn up by the Severn Tidal Power Group. A revised report was published in 2002 but all the plans were rejected at the time as being too expensive or too ecologically damaging.

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1 in 5 considering leaving Hong Kong due to pollution: survey

Yahoo News 5 Jan 09;

HONG KONG (AFP) – One in five Hong Kong residents is considering leaving the city because of its dire air quality, a survey released Monday has found, raising fears over the financial hub's competitiveness.

The findings equate to 1.4 million residents thinking about moving away, including 500,000 who are "seriously considering or already planning to move," according to the survey by the think tank Civic Exchange.

Those most seriously thinking about fleeing the city include top earners and highly educated workers, raising questions over the southern Chinese city's ability to attract and retain top talent, the report's authors found.

"People from all sectors of society know that air pollution is making them sick," said Michael DeGolyer, a political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.

"Many are concerned to the point they are considering leaving Hong Kong, including local professionals."

DeGolyer added that the survey of more than 1,000 residents debunked the myth that concerns about air pollution were confined to the city's foreign residents, as only three percent of the respondents were expats.

The research also found that concern about pollution had risen rapidly since 2001, and that managers and administrators were some of the most worried.

"And Singapore wants them," DeGolyer told reporters, referring to the long-standing rivalry between the two Asian cities to attract top talent.

Air pollution across some parts of Hong Kong last year reached its highest level since records began, official figures released last week showed.

A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department said tough measures had helped reduce the levels of several pollutants in recent years and it was working closely with neighbouring Guangdong province, whose factories are the source of much of the city's pollution.

"The government shares the aspiration of the public for clean air and has been implementing strong measures to control our emissions at source, particularly from road transport and power generation," the spokesman said, in a statement.

A Civic Exchange report last year said that at least 10,000 deaths were caused every year in Hong Kong, Macau and southern China by the region's worsening air pollution.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang has called improving air quality a "matter of life and death" for the city, but has still to introduce new air quality standards, 20 years after the current set was brought in.

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